Accelerate Mpls

What you are looking at is the evolution of the Lexus LS series.  Lexus’s tagline is the pursuit of perfection.  These images illustrate the evolution of that pursuit.

Source- The Lexus Enthusiast

Have you ever wondered what it would look like if General Motors made a Buick LaCrosse wagon?  Until now neither had I.  With that said, Nick Wilcox over at Automotive Renderings did wonder just that and decided to draw one out.  Taking inspiration from the LaCrosse and the Enclave, he put together this sketch.  Not too shabby.  Suddenly I would like to see a Buick LaCrosse wagon, that is, if GM could make it look this good.

Source- Automotive Renderings

Chrysler World Headquarters in Auburn Hills, MI has been wrapped up with the new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee literally.

Sourc- Twitter

One of the downsides of being human is I can not be everywhere at once.  In fact, I can not even be in two places at once.  This past weekend I had a choice, spend time with my family and girlfriend or go to MRSA’s 37th annual Back to the 50′s.  I made (in my opinion) the right choice and spent the weekend with my family and girlfriend at the cabin.  Luckily for us local photographer and all around great guy Alex Bellus did attend the Back to the 50′s show and took some terrific pictures.  Somewhere around 10,000+ cars were in attendance and it was held at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds.  The weather was perfect and tons of car enthusiasts and families alike were on site.  It sounds like usual the show was a success.

At the 2009 show there were-

• 11,510 Registered Cars
• Over 350 Vendors
• Over 250 Swappers
• Over 300 Crafters
• 125,000 Spectators

I can only assume the 2010 show met or exceeded these numbers though final numbers are not in.

All Alex’s pictures can be viewed in his Picasa gallery.

My friend was recently traveling in Iowa and stumbled upon this very confused Mazda5.  You see apparently the owner thinks it is a Mazda6.  Maybe the owner just wishes it was a Mazda6.  I am not quite sure the reasoning behind this but I thought it was a picture worth sharing.

Update- Someone reminded me that in Iowa the license plate stays with the owner not the vehicle.  Somehow I forgot this minor detail even though I attended college in Iowa.  Regardless this is just silly and now the person who most likely owned a Mazda6 before this Mazda5 now has a goofy license plate.

I personally can not decide on how bad the body kit or other modifications are because I can not see past the ugly.  They really could have chosen a better color scheme to go with here….but they didn’t.

Source- SpeedSportLife

Recently we all caught a clean glimpse of the front end of the upcoming 2011 Dodge Charger.  Between the front end spy shot and the hints/previews the folks at Dodge have provided through out the year, Edmunds Inside Line were able to put together this illustration of what the upcoming 2011 Dodge Charger will probably look like.  No this is not a guarantee so do not go betting someone on this.  This is merely a very logical and good guess at what we will see come to the auto show circuit later this year.  Keep in mind even though the current Charger came out in 2005 and is really due for a complete redesign, this is not that.  This will be a refresh so for those expecting a clean slate for the sheet metal design forget it.  Though I hear the interior is (as we have seen a few times) definitely more then a refresh and will be made of much better materials.

Source- The Auto Insider via Edmunds Inside Line

Episode 29 starts with introducing this weeks guest Drew Dowdell owner of CheersandGears.  Moving into the garage we talk about the Chevrolet Camaro Colin was in for the past week.  We also take time for a special report on the Local Minneapolis Fisker Karma unveiling that I attended last week.  We then move along to the major news of the week segment.  This week included-

• May Sales
• 2011 Dodge Charger Leaked
• Nissan Leaf will break the EV silence with a digital whistle
• A myriad of GM talk surrounding Ex-CEO Richard Wagoner Jr. and the possibility of a real RWD flagship for Cadillac

We then proceed to the clip of the week segment.  This week we featured Toyota, finally, although indirectly, is now acknowledging their safety failures for the first time in an ad  which Features their new Star Safety System. This system includes ABS, Electronic Stability Control, and the much needed brake over-ride system. (Link)

Next came our main topic which was discussing Mercury’s death and Lincoln’s future.

Last we plug our respective blogs, Cheers and Gears,  AutoBird Blog and Accelerate Mpls.

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This fathers day why waste money on cards from Hallmark when you could win him some free swag?  Well that is the question RamZone is asking.  RamZone is a place for Ram owners to gather and um talk Ram?  Well all you have to do is go and post in the comments a story about your father and his Ram truck.  Thats it!  They will pick six most touching tales and those lucky individuals will win heavy duty swag.  Also the grand prize winner will get a super sweet Atomic Solar G-Shock Watch while the five honorable mentions will get a Graphica 4-in-1 pen.  You have until 12 AM EST Friday June 18 so go go go!

Source- RamZone